The Avedøre Power Station () is a

combined heat and power Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to electricity generation, generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise ...

station, located in

Avedøre Avedøre is a south-western suburb of Copenhagen located in Hvidovre Municipality. Description The city is mostly made up of concrete blocks and row-housing, but some people residing in Avedøre live in detached single-family houses with gardens ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, just south of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, and is owned by Ørsted A/S. Avedøre Power Plant is a high-technology facility and one of the world's most efficient of its kind, being able to utilize as much as 94% of the energy in the fuel and convert 49% of the fuel energy into electricity. Apart from using

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

(oil) and

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

, the plant runs on a wide variety of

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

fuels such as

straw Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry wikt:stalk, stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the crop yield, yield by weight of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, ry ...

and

wood pellet Pellet fuels (or pellets) are a type of solid fuel made from compressed organic material. Pellets can be made from any one of five general categories of biomass: industrial waste and co-products, food waste, agricultural residues, energy crops, an ...

s. The plant consists of two units with a total capacity of 793 MW of electricity and 918 MW of heat. The combination of producing electricity (

) and heat for

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heater, space heating and w ...

at the same time is widely used in

and the rest of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, due to the need of domestic (and industrial) heating together with the Danish energy companies putting a big effort into optimising the energy plants. The Avedøre Power Station was designed by the architects Claus Bjarrum and Jørgen Hauxner.

Avedøre unit 1

Having been built in 1990 this is the oldest unit. Coal was the primary fuel used in this unit, but oil can also be used. By utilising the excess heat from the power production for

, Avedøre unit 1 attained an

energy conversion efficiency Energy conversion efficiency (''η'') is the ratio between the useful output of an energy conversion machine and the input, in energy terms. The input, as well as the useful output may be chemical, electric power, mechanical work, light (radi ...

of up to 91%. This made Avedøre 1 one of the world's most efficient coal-fired power plants. , it is being converted from coal to wood pellets at a price of DKK 740 million. It will burn 1.2 million tonnes of wood pellets per year, reducing emissions with about a million tonnes.Wittrup, Sanne.
Dong Energy starter ombygning af Avedøreværket
''

Ingeniøren ''Ingeniøren'' (full name: ''Nyhedsmagasinet Ingeniøren'', literally ''The News Magazine "The Engineer"'') is a Danish weekly newspaper specialising in engineering topics. History and profile The paper has covered science and technology issues ...

'', 27 March 2015. Accessed: 27 March 2015.

Avedøre unit 2

Having been built in 2001 this is the newest and most efficient unit at Avedøre Power Station. It is able to burn a wide variety of fuels like

, heavy fuel oil,

and

s in the same burners. It has a super critical

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centra ...

, built by the Danish company Burmeister & Wain Energy. The Avedøre unit 2 has a production capacity of 585 MW of electricity and 570 MW of heat and is the most efficient of the two units. The Avedøre unit 2 also consists of multiple sub-units. The main sub-unit, the super critical boiler is linked to a

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

and an

electrical generator In electricity generation, a generator, also called an ''electric generator'', ''electrical generator'', and ''electromagnetic generator'' is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy for use in an extern ...

. One of the world's biggest

boilers also is connected to this in parallel to the turbine. Furthermore, unit 2 comprises two separate

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

s with a capacity of 110 MW each. Avedøre unit 2 has an

electrical efficiency The efficiency of a system in electronics and electrical engineering is defined as useful power output divided by the total electrical power consumed (a vulgar fraction, fractional Expression (mathematics), expression), typically denoted by the G ...

of 49%, which makes it one of the world's most efficient. This record high efficiency is obtained when the unit is only producing electricity. When also producing heat for

the electrical efficiency decreases, as the heat exchange is carried out at a higher temperature. If the export of heat energy to district heating is taken into account the

reaches 94-96%, making it one of the world's most efficient

(CHP) stations. In preparation for conversion to 100% biomass in 2027, the plant has received a 360 tonne crane capable of transferring 800 tonnes of wood pellets per hour from ship to shore, although some environmentalists question the benefits of biomass.Biomass darker than coal
.

, July 2013. As a by-product, high quality

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

is made when cleaning the flue gas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avedore Power Station Energy infrastructure completed in 1990 Energy infrastructure completed in 2001 Power stations in Copenhagen Cogeneration power stations in Denmark Oil-fired power stations in Denmark Coal-fired power stations in Denmark Natural gas-fired power stations in Denmark Biomass power stations in Denmark Ørsted (company) 1990 establishments in Denmark

Avedøre unit 1

Avedøre unit 2

See also

References